From the Introduction:

REGARDED from a strictly factual viewpoint, this book
comprises further commentaries by Maurice Nicoll on his
widely appreciated Psychological Commentaries on the
Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky, mainly
on papers in the final, fifth volume. It could almost be a
second appendix to that collection. In the aspect of value,
however,  Selections from Meetings in 1953 can stand
alone; it has the potential to show the perceptive reader
a challenging pattern for the true conduct of life. Even
to those familiar with The Work, a telling phrase in Nicoll's inimitable style may pierce
the veil obscuring their understanding of a vital part of the teaching.

    It is not surprising that this selection contains potent ideas; it reflects Nicoll's thoughts
on The Work at the culmination of his life and his teaching.

    The commentaries here published for the first time were read to members at the Nicoll
group house at Great Amwell, a village near Ware, between March and August 1953 and
all except one elaborate on commentaries given in the same period and published in Volume 5
of  The Commentaries. The exception, Singing Your Song,  amplifies a paper read at Great
Amwell House a decade earlier, in February 1943. Its very title suggests that it owes its
selection to Nicoll's down-to-earth manner of dealing with esoteric questions. It is an
approach that in this short paper opens up new ways of observing the results of Internal
Considering, one of the big ideas of the The Work.

    Most of the new commentaries were responses to group members' questions about
sections of the readings or explanations that they had not understood. The final one,
however, is a report of Nicoll's words immediately after his paper had been read at
his final group meeting, on 16th August 1953. Beryl Pogson who, with publisher
Vincent Stuart, read the paper to that meeting has quoted passages of her teacher's
last meeting in her biography Maurice Nicoll: A Portrait. A full record of this talk,
together with the group members' questions that occasioned it, is published herein.

    It is a fitting climax to the book, dealing with the observation of attitudes to The Work
and also presenting a strong case for Nicoll's belief that, for all of us, it is self-conceit
that keeps out consciousness. He explains how the remedy can be found in the inner
meaning of the Gospel phrase "Blessed are the meek".

    Nicoll was one of the most committed of Work teachers to Gurdjieff's revelation that
at its core his system of knowledge and practice is Esoteric Christianity. There was none
of the calming piousness of exoteric religion in Nicoll's approach. This book shows he
was forthright in his criticism of those who came to Work meetings but failed to make
the required effort.

    "If you are unable to distinguish between a truth and a lie, I cannot help you," he says
in one of the new commentaries. Our conceit might lead us to imagine we are exempt
from this helpless category, but then he points out that Negative Emotions are always
lies and we all continually enjoy them. It is a shock to see that we could be among
those he condemns as being no good, as we are, to him or The Work.

    Hopefully, such shocks will activate us towards seeing our true condition. And our
potential. Among Nicoll's farewell words to his group was the instruction:
"What I am trying to say is that each one of you has something to work on
and you must try to find it".

 Selections from Meetings in 1953 could help in that search.

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